The Motherhood Experience of Eritrean Asylum Seeking Mothers Living in Israel

There are currently 21,929 Eritrean asylum seekers living in Israel. The vast majority of these asylum seekers entered Israel by foot through the Sinai border, after fleeing from an oppressive regime responsible for profound human rights violations. However, once the construction of the border fence between Israel and Egypt was completed in 2014, the immigration wave stopped. At the present time, Eritrean asylum seekers living in Israel are caught in a double bind between returning to Eritrea, where their lives are in danger, and staying in Israel, where they are rarely granted refugee status. Thus, Asylum seekers are left with no formal status guaranteeing their civil rights, and are therefore exposed to daily stressors with limited to non-existent assistance from the state of Israel. Furthermore, although most of them experienced traumatic events in Eritrea and/or en route, constituting fertile ground for many severe hardships, these events are not acknowledged by Israel (Antebi-Yemini, 2015; ASSAF, 2020; Bayo, 2015; Nakash et al., 2015; State Comptroller, 2014; UNHCR, 2020).

In addition to the many difficulties all asylum seekers face, women experience unique challenges having to do with motherhood. They are expected to be their children's primary caregiver, but are also required to deal with a traumatic past, lack of support, cultural gaps, and uncertainty about their future and the future of their children (Korukcu et al., 2018; Merry et al., 2017; Pangas et al., 2019; Stewart et al., 2015). These factors, along with the lack of knowledge in the research literature about the unique population of Eritrean mothers seeking asylum in Israel, reinforce the need to deeply understand their motherhood experience, which is the purpose of the current study.

This is a qualitative-phenomenological study based on the descriptive method, using semi-structured interviews. The interviews included questions that addressed the participants' general life story, along with questions that focused on motherhood in Eritrea (if relevant), pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, and their experience of motherhood in Israel. We interviewed 15 Eritrean mothers seeking asylum in Israel who were all recruited through the Mesila Aid and Information Center. The participants' ages ranged from 21 to 41 (M = 30.93), number of years in Israel ranged from 6 to 11 (M = 8.07), and number of children per participant ranged from 1 to 5 (M = 2.40). Ten of the participants were employed and 12 of them had a spouse. The interview analysis method was categorical with a focus on content analysis.

The research findings showed that the emotional experience of motherhood was shaped through the exposure to a variety of stressors which can be divided into personal and family related stressors, and social and cultural stressors. The main stressors identified included the context of a traumatic past and a difficult present, due to Israel's harsh policy toward asylum seekers. Among the stressors identified were a lack of support from the woman's family, with an emphasis on the mother figure, and a lack of emotional and instrumental support from the spouse. They also included economic hardship stemming from job insecurity, severe poverty and a lack of shared time with their children due to the need for long workdays. Another stressor identified was the influence of Israeli culture on their motherhood, caused mainly by the cultural gaps between the Eritrean and Israeli cultures.

The women asylum seekers' emotional experience of motherhood were reflected in three themes. The first theme was an experience of emotional distress resulting from past traumatic events, an ongoing lack of support, and job insecurity. The second theme identified was as an emotional experience of concern about the future of their children due to their lack of a civil status. These concerns included growing cultural gaps between their children and the Eritrean society in Eritrea, an ongoing sense of "unbelonging" and rejection by the State of Israel and Israeli society, and their children’s future realization of the meaning of being an asylum seeker, especially regarding daily stressors and the lack of freedom. Finally, the third theme identified was the experience of an impaired sense of competence in their motherhood stemming from their perception that they could not be good mothers and meet their children's needs due to economic difficulties, the formation of cultural gaps between them and their children, and an inability to maintain parental involvement due to language gaps. Alongside those themes, three expressions of resilience were identified as well, although they were not necessarily mentioned in the context of motherhood. These resilience expressions were divided into personal and social factors and included using strategies for emotional regulation, focusing on positive elements in their lives, and holding on to hope for a better future.

The findings showed how women asylum seekers' lives in Israel are negatively affected by daily stressors and the lack of acknowledgement by Israel of their traumatic background. The findings also show the negative prism through which the motherhood experience is described, emphasizing the massive difference between their motherhood experiences and those generally described in the research literature. The importance of the study stems from the many negative consequences of these differences, not only relating to the mother herself, but also to the relationship between her and her children, and their behavioral and mental development. Practically speaking, the study findings about this unique population could assist all those who come into contact with them. Finally, the findings may help promote interventions to strengthen positive elements in this population's motherhood, to reduce maternal distress and develop resilience among Eritrean women seeking asylum at the individual, family and community level